The Scouts Hold the Line
2017-
﻿
Marty Morgan rubbed his bald pate with a gloved hand. Age had taken his hair and
carved lines in his face, but he was still fighting trim thanks to his gift. It burned
calories like no one’s business.
Finch, his wife, stood at his side. Gray strands of hair was the only difference he
could see from when they had first met in ‘79. Who would have thought they would
be together so long doing what they did.
He looked to his right. Blue flame marked where the Lamplighters were doing what
they were doing blocks away. He hoped they knew what they were doing. His kids
were out there, and he wanted them to have a chance.
“I, the Queen of Genn, the Sister of the Destroyer, the Mother of the Myriad, the Sun
of a Million Lands, pronounce sentence on this miserable place for the crime of
accepting my rebellious daughter as one of your own.” The image of a burning tree
held up its prize in its grasp. The image covered the world so everyone could see what
was going to happen. “You will all be exterminated just like this hero who tried to
stop me.”
The net around the Mark caught fire as magic poured down on him. He felt the green
spark in his body being ripped out. Then he blew apart in a cloud of ash and smoke.
Marty’s radio exploded in his ear. He gritted his teeth. Now was not the time to start
losing it.
“Everybody, pay attention,” he said. “We have to hold this line. Fliers, knock
anything in the air that’s not one of ours down. Ground troops, keep their armies back
as much as possible. We need to give the Lamplighters a chance to do their thing.
Rangers, keep moving people out of the way. We don’t want to kill somebody by
accident.”
“I have to go,” said Finch.
“Be careful,” said Marty. “I’m going to try to distract that thing until the Lamplighters
can do what they can.”
Finch moved to the edge of the roof. She vanished over the side.
A streak of light appeared over the city. Marty frowned as he watched it head right
at the center of the chaos. Then the giant hero known as M-37 punched the Queen of
the Genn in the face with a metallic fist.
That was a big distraction in Marty’s book. He needed to add to that.
Purple pulses lit the night along the line. Air ships came apart as he watched the night
sky. What was causing that?
“I have some help over here, Marty,” said Scarrow on the radio. “We’re covering our
point.”
Another giant blasted through the air. Marty didn’t recognize him, but he was
throwing blasts of energy into the Queen as he flew across the city.
“He’s with us, Marty,” said the Scarrow. “Don’t shoot him.”
Marty frowned. New players on the board were changing the positions. It looked like
their mad scheme might work after all. All he had to do was keep his children safe,
and the city by extension.
“Mr. Multiverse is here on the ground,” said Plus. “He’s everywhere.”
Marty expected that. Mr. Multiverse often showed up at events where there was a rip
in the air. He only stayed around long enough to help out, and then he was gone.
The Mark’s kids flew through the air. If the Mark couldn’t make a dent in Big Ugly,
they couldn’t either.
Other fliers joined them. Marty hoped none of them were his kids. He had to hold the
line, and keep the air clear. If the Lamplighters were right, they would become targets
soon enough. The Queen wasn’t going to let them pose a threat for long.
“How’s it going?,” said a voice on his right. He looked down. A teenaged girl with
dark hair and eyes smiled at him. “Name’s Sara. This is my brother, Moshe.”
Moshe stood behind her. He scanned the air for danger as he tried to keep an eye on
everything at once.
“Our parents wanted us out of the way until they got done helping the Americans
build their lamps,” said Sara. “Al-a-Din is down on the street with his butler and felt
we should help you instead of getting in his way.”
“That’s kind of him,” said Marty. “I’m trying to concentrate here. The goal is to
protect the Lamplighters and keep the enemy confined close to the door. Can you do
either of those things while I do what I have to do?”
“I think so,” said Sara. She smiled. “What do you think, Moshe?”
“I think we’re too close to the front line,” said Moshe. “I don’t think this is what Al-a-
Din wanted.”
“Concentrate on what’s going on,” said Marty. “We have to hold this line one way,
or the other. If things get ugly, get clear.”
“Don’t worry about us, old man,” said the girl. “We can handle walking trees.”
“I don’t think that’s right,” said the boy. He flung blue balls of light across the roof.
“Sorry, something moved over there.”
“Need some light,” said Marty.
Sara said a word. A column of light sprang into existence across the street. Trees with
jack o’lantern faces looked around at the revealing fire. A rain of blue bolts fell on
them before they could snuff the light out.
“Keep doing that until the coast is clear,” said Marty. He sat down on the gravel of
his base roof and concentrated.
Marty started out his career as Animal Boy of the Hazard Scouts. His gift was the
ability to summon animals to help him out. His foster family had brought him along
on adventures until they were ambushed and for the most part wiped out.
Barry Nicklaus, Mister Robot, spent ten years as a brain in a jar while Marty was
figuring out how to survive without resources. As soon as Marty and his new friends
had rescued him, he went back to solving problems with a new body. When the call
went out, he had been the first to fly into New York to set up to repel the invasion.
He had shifted to help the Lamplighters with his expertise while the rest of the newer
generations of Scouts went about their business.
Marty had originally only been able to summon animals. Then he had been able to
summon mixes of two different animals. Then he had been able to move into
imaginary animals after that.
He crafted his summoning to keep the Queen busy. The Scouts had to hold the line
while he worked. If the plan worked, he would be able to gather his extended family
and take them home after a job well done. If it didn’t, he would go down fighting.
Either way, he wasn’t giving up.
“Are you okay?,” asked Sara.
“Yes,” said Marty. He didn’t open his eyes. “Just keep the roofs clear while I cook up
this surprise. It’ll take me a couple of minutes. It’s the biggest crafting I have ever
done.”
“Don’t worry,” said Sara. “We’re handling things.”
Marty didn’t open his eyes to check the veracity of that statement. He needed to
concentrate on what he was doing.
He had been younger when he had started out. He hoped they knew better than he
had.
A roar answered his summons. He smiled. He opened his eyes as a wave of heated air
washed over him.
“What is that?,” asked Moshe.
“The biggest distraction I could come up with,” said Marty. “Scouts, Behemoth is
walking. Let him go by.”
The summoned monster stomped forward, casually knocking aside any building in
its way. The fins running down its back glowed in anger as it closed on the fight
ahead. It roared its challenge at the Queen.
“That is a big distraction,” said Moshe. “I don’t think I have seen anything bigger.”
“Hopefully she hasn’t either,” said Marty. Weariness settled into his bones. He closed
his eyes again. Maybe he had created too big a distraction. Maybe he should have
tried for something a little smaller on scale.
The roar of the big lizard was followed by the sound of burning air as it breathed on
the Queen while still blocks away.
“Are you all right?,” asked Sara. She said something else. Marty felt a tingling, but
it wasn’t enough to get him back on his feet.
“I just need a moment to rest,” said Marty. He knew that no matter what happened
next, he was out of the fight. Calling on his monster had broken something inside. He
could feel it.
No one would be able to fix what he had done to himself. He was too old, and at the
end of his life. He should have stayed home with his feet up and sipping Pepsi.
Saving the world was a young man’s, person’s, game.
“I can’t fix this,” said Sara. “I’m sorry.”
“Everybody has problems,” said Marty. “Are we holding the line?”
“I think so,” said Sara. “Your monster is forcing the tree people to defend their queen.
They aren’t doing a good job of it from what I can see.”
“The Mark’s girls are probably wrecking a lot of the mooks,” said Marty. “That’s
what I expected.”
“The Mark is dead,” said Moshe.
“I didn’t expect that,” said Marty. “Doesn’t matter if we lose the fight.”
If they lost, who was going to care how hard they fought, or who fell in battle. The
human species would be forced to live under a yoke and possibly put on the path to
extinction.
He hadn’t joined the Scouts to let that happen.
“It looks like we’re pushing them back, Marty,” said Corona in his earpiece. “That
was some stunt you just pulled.”
Corona and Ren had come out of retirement to help with this. Their son, Bond, was
out there fighting with the other Scouts. She still looked like the blond girl from the
poor side of town he had asked to move from Detroit to help him restart the Scouts
after they had saved Barry.
Ren had aged better than Marty. The former Animal Boy put it down to the magic he
used to solve mysteries. Forty years had only given him some streaks of grey in his
dark hair and a few wrinkles to go with the scars he had picked up in the battles they
had waged.
“The lines on the street have stabilized, Dad,” said his son, Mark. “We’ll need some
more people on the street if we want to start pushing them back for real.”
Marty tried to talk into his radio. There had to be something he could say to change
things. His mouth was so dry.
“I have a wedge of clear sky,” said Harmon, the Scarrow. “Darla says she can knock
down anything flying too close to us.”
Marty wondered who Darla was. He thought she had something to do with the second giant helping M-37. That made her the source of the purple lightning he had seen
earlier.
“Finch,” said Marty. He didn’t know if the radio would activate. He didn’t know how
loud he was talking. “Can you hear me? I love you.”
It would be beyond expectation to think she had heard him. He couldn’t do anything
about it now. He had to hold on to give his monster time to do its work.
If he died, his animal would expire too. He had to hold on to buy it time to do its job.
“We’re ready to fire,” said Mark Hadron over the radio net. “Magicians, get ready to
push.”
Marty smiled. He only had to hold on until the Lamplighters did their job. He could
do it for another ten seconds.
“Counting down,” said Hadron. “Three...Two...One...Fire in the hole.”
Blue flame pressed against Marty’s eyelids. He tried to turn his head, but he couldn’t.
He grimaced as the light seemed to go on forever. Then it shut off and the night sky
was back.
“Mister Morgan?,” said Sara. “Can you hold on? It looks like we’re winning.”
“Finch,” said Marty. “Can you find her?”
“I’ll call,” said Sara. “We’ll get her for you.”
Marty held his breath as he waited. He couldn’t open his eyes. He felt a hand touch
his face. He smiled at the familiar calluses.
“Here,” said Finch.
“I love you,” said Marty. “Thank you for the time you’ve given me.”
“Hospital,” said Finch.
“I’m broken on the inside,” said Marty. “It’s my time, and no one can change that. I
just wanted to say goodbye before I go.”
“Love you,” said Finch.
The city of New York lit up in a display of blue flames at Martin Morgan’s passing.
His gargantuan creation went with him as it became thunderous clouds casting
random lightning that broke apart over the ocean. His unknowing enemy, the Queen
of Genn, looked down at the hole in her body in shock. A giant fist punched her back
into her cloud door. Chanting closed the door as the various magicians summoned
into action cast their spells to fill the hole in the boundary between worlds.
The fighting continued for a bit, but the children of the Genn were beaten with their
queen sent home, and no way to distract the Mark’s daughters. They were rounded
up and sent home to get rid of them.
The Scouts gathered where Finch had covered Marty with his jacket. Others like
the Robot Rangers arrived to report in after the action was done. The city’s
emergency services were taking over, surveying the damage.
Tanner Lerner and his cousin, Darla, stood at the back of the crowd. A blond man in
a dun coat stood with them. He puffed on his cigar as he watched things with his
squinty eyes.
“So we didn’t save everybody,” said Tanner.
“Couldn’t be expected to,” said the man in the dun coat. “You two still did okay
considering.”
“If you can call running across the country and nearly getting killed fighting someone
that killed the Mark okay,” said Darla. “What the frack was that?”
“It needed doing,” said Tanner.
“Exactly,” said the man in the dun coat. “Some things need doing. Have a safe trip
back home. I doubt things will be this bad for a while. This Earth has beaten two
menaces from beyond. The others might decide to leave us alone for a bit.”
“What if they don’t, Mister Mysterious Mister Who Likes Crappy Smelling
Smokes?,” asked Darla.
“You’re the heroes who have to fight for the world,” said the man in the dun coat.
“I’m just a nobody comedy relief.”
He raised his cigar in a goodbye gesture and walked away.
//235931

The Last Spot
2015-
﻿Ken Aioki looked at the place where he was going for his job interview. It didn’t look
like much to him. He looked around before crossing the street and opening the
personnel door to step inside. He looked around inside the door, getting his bearings.
A giant stood at the desk. He held two parts in his hands. He looked up at Ken and
put the parts down.
“Can I help you?,” said the giant.
“I’m here about the job,” said Ken. “I talked to a Mrs. Hillsmierer.”
“Really?,” said the giant. “Are you sure you want to work here? This is a dangerous
job you’re trying out for, bud.”
“The advertisement didn’t say anything about danger,” said Ken.
“Why would it?,” said the giant. He leaned a hip on the desk. “You don’t just tell
people they might have their faces fried off on the first day. Then no one would
apply.”
“Do people have their faces fried off on the first day?,” asked Ken.
“You’d be surprised,” said the giant. His bald head reflected a blue light from his dark
skin. Ken couldn’t figure out where the source could be. “Why don’t you sit down?
We can have a chat while you’re waiting for Janie and Mark to get back.”
“Okay,” said Ken. He sat down in the visitor’s chair indicated by the other man.
“What would you like to talk about?”
“Let’s talk about your criminal record,” said the giant.
“That was a long time ago,” said Ken.
“Most of our systems are computerized,” said the Lamplighter. “Are you even able
to use them without getting into trouble?”
“Yes,” said Ken. “My probation ran out two weeks ago. I already filed my
paperwork.”
“So you want to talk about why a computer thief like yourself wants a job like this?,”
said the giant.
“I wasn’t a thief,” said Ken. “I just put some stuff online. Unfortunately, the
government doesn’t like it when you expose one of their secrets.”
“How many secrets did you expose for the betterment of mankind?,” the giant asked.
“Just the one,” said Ken. “It was a doozy.”
“It also got one hundred innocent people killed, did a million dollars in damage
before the Mark could intervene, and unleashed a plague that might kill everyone on
the planet given enough time,” said the giant. “If we can make it into space without
becoming extinct, that last might work out all right.”
“I didn’t mean for any of that to happen,” said Ken.
“What did you think was going to happen?,” asked the giant.
“I thought that exposing the government’s super weapon would help the world,” said
Ken. “I mean they were building a biological weapon.”
“Exposing it is what caused the break-in that unleashed it,” said the giant. “If you
hadn’t done that, very few people would have known about the weapon. Fewer still
would have known where it was.”
“What would you have done?,” asked Ken.
“I wouldn’t have dumped everything on the Internet for anyone to read for one thing,”
the giant said. “I might have called DARPA from a payphone, or a one use cell, and
told them how loose their computer security was. I might have kept things to myself
and watched what was going on from a distance.”
“But they were going to use it,” said Ken.
“How?,” said the giant.
“I saw an order for it to be deployed,” said Ken.
“It was a standby order in case something bad threatened to happen without
interference,” said the giant.
“I didn’t know,” said Ken. “I was thirteen.”
“Thirteen and unable to do the thing you love,” said the giant. He sat behind the desk.
“Why should we take you in and let you loose in our systems so you can dump our
files out on the Internet for everyone to read.”
“I learned my lesson,” said Ken. “I made a bad decision. I understand why you
wouldn’t want to give me a chance, but I need the job, and I want to do something
good.”
“Go ahead and look at these boards,” said the giant. He pushed a picture down on the
desk with a big hand. “They’re not sending the correct signals to each other.”
“Is this some kind of test?,” asked Ken.
“I’m not the one hiring you,” said the giant. “If you can prove you still have your
touch, Mark might hire you despite your record. If you can’t, he might just send you
packing. He’s lost a lot of empathy for others when he lost his eye.”
“How did that happen?,” asked Ken. He picked up the two boards and examined them
as he thought about their shape, and the way things were laid on them.
“He zigged when he should have zagged,” said the other man.
Ken paused to consider those words. He thought about what it meant to lose an eye
because you made the wrong move. The other man nodded at the hesitation.
“Lamplighting is a business that deals with problems that no one else can deal with
and it is dangerous,” said the giant. “I understand if you want to walk away and get
another job. If I were in your shoes, I would.”
“Have you been hurt on the job?,” asked Ken. He placed the pieces back on the desk
and pulled out his Swiss Army knife. He extended a blade he could use to work on
the electronics.
“Yes,” said the other man. “I got hit hard a couple of times. I didn’t even get a chance
to zig, much less zag.”
“Sorry to hear that,” said Ken.
“It happens,” said the giant.
“If you say so,” said Ken. He poked at each of the boards. He realized he didn’t know
what they were supposed to do. “Where did these come from?”
“From this baby,” said the giant. He picked up a giant lantern off the floor by its
handle. It had been concealed by the desk. He placed it on top of the desk.
Ken frowned at the lantern. He didn’t see a flame inside of it. Why did it need
electronics? Maybe he could do better with a reader, but he didn’t have one, and he
wasn’t supposed to touch one until he paid his fines.
Ken inspected the gap where the pieces went in the lamp. He frowned at the dust, and
something else in the lamp.
“Do you have any duster?,” Ken asked.
“Right here,” said the other man. He grabbed a can of spray off a filing cabinet and
handed it over.
Ken sprayed the slot with the duster. Then he looked around and lucked into some
cotton swabs. He used those to clean out the slots. Then he slid both pieces back into
where they were supposed to go.
He pressed the button on the side of the lamp. Blue flame exploded to life inside the
chamber. He sat back. The giant nodded.
“It looks like you still have your touch,” said the other man. He smiled.
Ken put his knife away as he looked at the blue flame. Fixing it had seemed
ridiculously easy.
“What does this do?,” he asked.
“It gives off light,” said the other man.
Ken frowned at him. Of course a lamp gave off light. If it didn’t, it wouldn’t be a
lamp.
“I think Janie and Mark are back,” said the giant. “If you still want the job, just act
like you don’t know anything, and don’t give off the vibe that you’re here to plunder
the computer files.”
“I just want a job,” said Ken.
“Be humble and kind, and you’ll get it,” said the giant. He picked up the lamp. “I
have to put this back where it belongs. Good luck, kid.”
He turned and walked out of the office area. Ken thought he went upstairs, but
realized that he wasn’t exactly sure how the giant was getting around. That bothered
him for some reason.
Ken stood at the sound of a small rumble. He looked around. A vehicle bay door
rolled up to let a van roll into the building. Yellow lights flashed on the top of the
van.
People in jumpsuits piled out of the van. They chattered about whatever they had run
into on their job. Ken didn’t understand the references.
“How did you get in here?,” asked one of the men. He only had one eye, and didn’t
bother covering his empty socket.
“The door was open,” said Ken. “I’m Ken Aioki. I’m here about the job.”
“The hacker,” said the one-eyed man. “I’m Hadron. Have you talked to Janie yet?”
“No,” said Ken. “I think I was the only one here.”
“Ever been in a fight?,” asked Hadron. He walked around to the other side of the desk
and sat down. He frowned at it for a second. He righted the picture the giant had
knocked over.
A large hole was visible in his hand.
“Not since the sixth grade,” said Ken.
“As you are aware from the ad, this is dangerous work,” said Hadron. “Are you sure
you want to take this on? You’ll be running most of the time, and trying not to get
beaten like a rug the rest.”
“I think I can handle that,” said Ken.
“All right,” said Hadron. “Hey, Marcel! Take the new guy down to get him tested.”
“I’m hired just like that?,” said Ken.
“We always need someone we can consider expendable,” said Hadron. “When you
get back, we’ll run the retina test and give you the package to fill out. After that, we’ll
get you some target practice.”
“How expendable am I?,” asked Ken.
“If you have to ask, you don’t need to know,” said Marcel.
“That doesn’t sound good,” said Ken. “How many of us are there?”
“If you pass the retina scan, you’re number four,” said Marcel. “Don’t worry. If
you’re getting a drug test, Hadron must think you’ll pass the eye test with no
problems.”
“What about the big guy?,” asked Ken.
“Isn’t one,” said Marcel.
“What do you mean?,” said Ken. “I just spent a few minutes talking to a big guy
while I waited for you guys to come back.”
“There’s no big guy,” said Marcel. “That’s probably why Hadron is going to hire
you.”
“No big guy?,” said Ken.
“No,” said Marcel. “There’s me, the white guy, and the latina woman. Hadron is the
boss, and Janie is his admin. There’s nobody else.”
“Then who was I talking to?,” asked Ken.
“Probably one of the dead Lamplighters,” said Marcel. He waited until Ken had
buckled in before starting the engine.
“What do you mean dead Lamplighters?,” said Ken.
“The place is haunted,” said Marcel. “You’re not really sharp, are you?”
“You’re joking,” said Ken.
Marcel pulled out his phone as he drove through the city streets. He hooked it up to
the van’s wifi and voice commanded it to search for the Lamplighters.
He pulled to a stop at a red light. He took the chance to scroll up until he had a group
picture from the Times.
“Which one was yours?,” Marcel asked.
“The big guy, Dyson Baker,” said Ken.
“Makes sense,” said Marcel. “He made the original lamps.”
“So the ghostbusting place is haunted,” said Ken. “Why?”
“Maybe because they died on the job, and the lamps are holding on to them,” said
Marcel. “The question is do you still want the job?”
“I don’t really have anything to lose,” said Ken.
“Keep telling yourself that,” said Marcel. “It’ll help you sleep at night.”
“What helps you sleep at night?,” asked Ken.
“I don’t,” said Marcel.
He pulled to the curb in front of a small general medical services office. He looked
at the traffic going by.
“How expendable am I?,” Ken asked before he got out of the van.
“You’re just as expendable as Hadron’s eye,” said Marcel. He turned to glance at his
new co-worker. “Go do your thing. I’ll be waiting for you to take you back to the
station.”
“Why are you working for the company?,” Ken asked. He stood outside the van,
looking in through the opened window.
“Because my ghost said I couldn’t,” said Marcel. “And I’m proving him wrong
every minute I am on the clock.”
“That doesn’t seem like a good reason,” said Ken.
“It’s all that I need,” said Marcel. “Go. I can’t sit out here all day.”
“All right,” said Ken. He looked at the small office. Did he really want to die over a
job?
He walked in and set up to take his test.
//233456

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